Emergency Unemployment Insurance Stabilization and Access Act of 2020
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Emergency Unemployment Insurance Stabilization and Access Act of 2020
This bill responds to the coronavirus outbreak by expanding unemployment benefits and providing grants to states for processing and paying claims.
Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Labor to transfer FY2020 emergency grants to a state's Unemployment Trust Fund to administer unemployment insurance. Grant recipients must (1) require employers to notify employees at the time they lose their jobs of the availability of unemployment compensation (UC), (2) ensure that UC applications and assistance with them are accessible, and (3) take certain steps to ensure the successful processing of applications.
A state may receive an additional grant if its UC claims increased by 10% over the previous calendar year and it
expresses its commitment to maintain and strengthen access to the UC system; and
demonstrates steps to ease eligibility requirements and access to UC for claimants (e.g., waiving work search requirements and the waiting week, and relieving benefit charges for claimants and employers directly impacted by COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) due to an illness in the workplace or direction from a public health official to isolate or quarantine workers).
The bill (1) allows states to temporarily modify their UC laws and policies to respond to the spread of COVID-19; (2) waives interest on state loans for UC programs through December 31, 2020; (3) requires Labor to provide technical assistance and guidance to states for short-term UC programs; and (4) temporarily provides full federal financing of extended UC benefits, rather than requiring 50% state financing.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on March 11, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 11, 2020: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Steven Horsford (D-NV) introduced it on March 11, 2020. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 11, 2020, 2421 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2421 days ago, on March 11, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers